Rock Star: Supernova ~ Week 4 Performances

What a night! It’s another installment of Rock Star: Supernova, and there were surprises galore! First, I must give props to the lovely and talented Brooke Burke, who was rocking a dynamic Greek Goddess dress [Note to self: pick up toga from cleaners]. Complete with makeup, straightened hair, and accessories, Brooke looked great. Yeah, she’s got a cool job And special thanks to Jason Newsted for getting a haircut. Hmm, I wonder if he read last week’s column…At the beginning of the show, Tommy, Gilby, and Jason came by the Rocker’s Mansion to hang out a bit with them, and play some of their new tracks. Of course, all the Rockers loved the songs, and everyone could see themselves writing lyrics to them, yadda, yadda, yadda. Did all Rockers really love the songs that much, or was that for the benefit of the cameras? Gilby told the Rockers about the new Supernova songs (referring to their upcoming songs, not my Supernova CD), “No more excuses. You know what we want.” Gilby is hoping that the Rockers will get it, and stay away from songs by Duran Duran.

Lukas – Bittersweet Symphony

I love this song. And talking about bittersweet, the band The Verve, who wrote this beautiful song, sampled an obscure symphonic cover of a Rolling Stone song without permission. Of course the song becomes a hit. After The Rolling Stone’s people got a wind of the illegal sample, the guys in the Verve made about a thousand dollars total, and the rest of the publishing royalties went to the Stones. The sweet part is having a worldwide hit. The bitter part is not making enough money from hit to fly from London to LA. Priceless.

Back to Lukas. He can really do no wrong in the big picture. His vocals are a lot clearer this week, and I LOVE his eyshadow. The soft and sparkly lipgloss is where I draw the line, however. Lipstick is one thing, but lip gloss on a man has to go.

He sings his butt off, and this is such a great song choice for him. He keeps his intensity fairly medium until the song has this great break. All the lights come down, except for one on him. It was a quick moment, and can’t really be described here, but as soon as the lights came back up, his intensity was huge, and the audience went crazy. This is the kind of moment that an audience member likes to experience. Great job, Lukas.

Dave commented on Lukas ability to switch it up each week, and Tommy loves Lukas style: “Way to go. Nice jacket”. Of course, Lukas’ nemesis Jason has to add his two pennies, “I’m waiting for you to open up your throat and crush us.” No one added to that. Lukas gave a great performance, and his vocals sound better. I don’t know what Jason’s looking for, but he’s the one in the judge’s chair. I’ll gladly give Jason the benefit of the doubt.

Zayra – Call Me

Wow.

Okay, let me say that again. Wow!

The song choice was perfect for her. Okay, I didn’t mention the outfit first. Perhaps because I’m still searching for the words. She wore this electric blue outfit with white boots, and the sides of her torso were exposed.

She’s a live wire, and I love it. She’s unafraid, and I love it. But I’m not sure if the band Supernova is buying what she’s selling.

Dave, for one, wasn’t buying it. He told Zayra, “Get started on a solo career. Right now.” I’ll tell you what I think. Zayra, Honey, don’t worry, if you don’t have at least one record deal in the works by the end of this week, you need to switch management companies.

Gilby said that he enjoyed her performance last week, but “You lost me again”. But Tommy Lee’s comment said it all: “The last time I saw an outfit like that, I woke up with boot marks and bite marks all over me.” Ouch.

That was harsh. As Zayra met Brook on the stage, she said to Zayra, “I think you look amazing!” And this is what makes Brooke Burke smart. She knew that Zayra was being treated harshly by the guys in Supernova, and she chose to make a statement in her own way. Remember, Brooke is often portrayed as a “body”, and is not required to have opinions of her own. It might seem small, but Brooke siding with Zayra was a small step in the right direction for womankind.

Dana – About a Girl

I really liked what Dana did tonight. She has a versatile voice, an instrument, if you will. If you listened to her sing tonight, you might notice how she manipulated her strongest feature: her voice.

Dana performed this song acoustically, so the focus was on her voice. She dirtied up the color of her voice, giving an edgy tone to her sound, which was a great choice. By staying in one place, sitting and playing the guitar, she wasn’t concerned with looking beautiful or doing the miniskirt waddle, and we got to see Dana’s light shine. I think she got the effect she wanted.

Dave said, “You’re finally looking damaged enough…There’s no place in a rock band for a well-adjusted, normal individual”. Jason said that this was his favorite performance of hers yet, and Gilby adds, “I’m shocked!”

Patrice Pike – Remedy

Patrice has a great voice, and she’s not afraid to smile on stage. She has tons of power, but I’d love to see more movement and energy from her. But this song was great for her.

Dave said that he’s “just not seeing anything different. Frankly, I’m getting bored.” When Patrice asked him if he did anything new. His response: “I have a job. I’m not auditioning”.

Patrice, please Girlfriend, leave those kind of comments to Zayra. Zayra has to deal with being in the Bottom Three every week even when she’s done her personal best, so she’s allowed to have an attitude. You, Miss Thing, better work on switching it up next week.

Toby – White Wedding

His stagecraft just isn’t working for me, sorry. He’s sort of hopping around, and the song choice seemed iffy. He does make up for it with his strong vocals and heartthrob connection to the audience. So who knows?

Gilby commented on Toby being pitchy at the beginning, that the range of the song might not have been the best choie, but he added that Toby kicked it up a notch, and the song sounded great. Jason said it was the best performance that he had seen of Toby’s on this show.

In my opinion, Toby did enough to stay out of the Bottom Three, but not enough to win the show. We’ll see.

Magni – Heroes

I’ve finally figured out what it is about me and Magni: He’s just not as sexy to me as he is to himself, and I guess that’s a problem. He sang the song, but he didn’t add anything. At least he didn’t wear those blasted sunglasses again.

Gilby said, “Great delivery, great performance”. But Tommy Lee said nothing, not even a clap.

Ryan Star – I Alone

He still looks pained at the beginning of this song. He was all over the stage, moving and grooving, even jumping off the drumset. But I still don’t get him. Not for this band.

Tommy told him, “That was great. Your best performance yet!”, and Gilby said “For the first time I saw something.”, and Jason told Ryan to “show us more of what you did tonight.”

They’re buttering him up, I tell you.

Jill – Brown Sugar

This is a great song choice for Jill, who was working that “bad girl bitch from Long Island” persona in a tiny black dress. Work it, Mama!

I almost forgot to mention that Gilby Clarke sat in on guitar for this song. She looks very small standing next to him onstage. I don’t know if that’s just because she’s petite or if Gilby overwhelmed her. But the dress was hot.

Dave liked her performance, although Gilby was quick to add, “You had me til the grinding. Grinding is predictable. You don’t have to do that. You can sing. It’s cheap, and it’s weak.”

Dave added to that, “Maybe it’s a perception thing. If it was my band, we’d be grinding all night long.”

And that was that.

Phil Ritchie – One Headlight

I just don’t know what to write about Phil Ritchie. I just don’t. Can he sing? Yes. Does he have something? Yes. What is it? Not sure.

Tommy wondered if people could listen to that for an hour and a half, and Jason said, “I’m concerned. I’m not crazy about what he does.” Neither am I, so I’ll move on.

Dilana – Time After Time

Bringing it down with a Cindy Lauper hit, Dilana has a few tricks left. She started singing while she was still seated, but she soon stood, and I felt like the way she performs is like a teacher giving a lesson.

At a lower volume, her voice was not supported as usual, but I didn’t mind. Her aim was reaching the audience, and that aim was true, (sorry Elvis Costello). And she has a killer voice. I felt like Dilana would be waiting time after time, you know?

Dave said, “It doesn’t matter what you do. I get chills.”, and Tommy Lee: “You are so enchanting (Is Tommy Lee a mack daddy with the ladies or what?!). Jason also gave credit to the guitar player, saying “That was a duet”, and classy Dilana agreed, and pulled the guitarist on the platform with her. She later admitting to feeling so much love form the audience. And why not? They love her, and she loves them. It’s a lovefest!

Josh Logan – No Rain

After hearing the new Supernova tracks, both Josh and this song don’t work for me. Without his soulful licks, Josh sounds like anyone else. Dave told Josh that after showing another side, he’s back to where he was, performance-wise. Tommy Lee commented that the song was challenging, and that Josh’s style wasn’t so soulful. Josh admitted to missing it, and was hoping to do more bluesy songs. Gilby said he’s “waiting to see how you’ll bridge those styles”. Me too.

Storm Large – Anything Anything

I love her energy and intensity. She’s hard, powerful, and sexy. At the end of the song, she tossed her mic, then stage dived into the crowd. Don’t know about you, but I was on my feet. Yeah!!!!

Dave: “That’s what a lead singer does!” Tommy Lee said it was perfect, and Jason commented that Storm is “always turbocharged”. Storm took the show to another level tonight, and it’s going to be awesome to see the rest of the Rockers meet her challenge.

Tonight, Storm Large brought a battle to the stage.

By the way, Ms. Large does have a set of photos that can be found via Google that I’d wager is worth the search engine spike that I predicted last week. Apparently, Storm was not kidding around when she hinted that there was more of her to be seen online. Erotic, art-type photos! The powers-that-be at Rock Star Supernova got her to remove the erotic photos from her websites, but everyone knows that websites, like diamonds, are forever.

And the Bottom Three at the end of the show:
Josh
Jill
Zayra